A MI man was charged Monday with felony drug trafficking after 24 people became sick at an OH rap music festival when they ate candy laced with the marijuana ingredient THC.
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Fox News reported that on Saturday, a man threw bags of candy into the crowd at the EST 2016 rap festival, according to authorities. Narcan, which is commonly used to reverse the effects of opiates, was used on those patients to treat overdoses. He said no one lost consciousness. THC is the chemical in marijuana that intoxicates users.
Patrons were attending the EST Fest, a two-day event that started Friday.
Maj. Joe Masi of the Richland County Sheriff’s Department told the Mansfield News Journal someone began tossing out bags of the colorful sweets Saturday at around 11 a.m. They only felt exhausted, among other unusual symptoms.
Matthew Lee Gross, 28, of Ypsilanti, was arrested by on the fifth-degree felony charge by authorities with the Richland County Sheriff’s Office after the EST 2016 concertgoers ate packets of sweets containing THC, the psychoactive compound in marijuana that gives users a sense of euphoria. Paramedics initially treated the victims for opioid overdoses, but stopped when lab tests on the sweets showed only high concentrations of THC, the active ingredient in cannabis.
Festival-goers circulated pictures of the candy packets on social media, urging people to turn them in to police. He was last seen wearing a grey baseball cap with a red visor and a black T-shirt with a marijuana leaf on it.
Officials said the festival was not cancelled.
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The festival, headlined by Cleveland rapper Machine Gun Kelly, was set to continue through the weekend.
